Liberal and Can’t Help It: Is Political Orientation Biologically Determined?

After a heated political discussion, have you ever wondered, "how can someone see the world so differently?" Are liberals and conservatives from "different planets?" The answer may be "Yes!"

Research in neuroscience and personality has explored the biological basis of political orientation. In one series of studies, researchers at the University of Nebraska showed liberals and conservatives pleasant (cute rabbit, beach ball) and unpleasant (crashed car, person getting beaten) pictures and followed their eye movements. Conservatives tended to spend more time focusing on the negative images and became more physiologically aroused by them, while liberals focused on the more positive images. The researchers suggest that this is in line with conservative and liberal politics whereby conservatives are focused on protection from threats, and liberals focus on a positive future.

When shown photos of well-known Democratic and Republican leaders, these same researchers found that conservatives had a stronger physiological response to the Democrats (presumed to be a negative physiological reaction); liberals also had a stronger physiological response to the Democrats (presumed to be a positive response).

The researchers emphasize that this doesn't assume that one orientation is better than the other, but simply that they view the world differently—conservatives confront the bad, liberals focus on the good.

Another line of research has examined personality differences in liberals and conservatives. Liberals are found to be more empathic, compassionate (i.e., "bleeding hearts") and open to experiences, while conservatives tend to be more concerned with order and preserving the existing social structure.

Historically, it has been presumed that the environment in which people were raised (e.g., conservative mid-West community vs. liberal urban scene) had the biggest impact on the development of political attitudes and orientation. No doubt, environment also plays a part, but this line of research suggests that biology also comes into play in determining politics.

So the next time you are in a discussion with someone who has very different political attitudes, realize that you probably DO see the world differently.

Not in my experience. For as long as I can remember, liberals have been running around like panicky Chicken Littles, warning that SOMETHING (global cooling, global warming, pollution, AIDS, overpopulation, acid rain, genetically modifed foods, whatever) is just about to destroy us!

A more fear-driven bunch you will never meet!

Indeed, as I recall, liberals loathed Ronald Reagan precisely because he was so sunny and optimistic! To liberals, Reagan's supreme optimism was proof that he was a n ignormaus who didn't understand tha everything is going to hell in a bucket

The idea of psychological research is to test beliefs and propositions. Everyone's experience and perception is different. The scientific research method strives toward objectivity, in an effort to find out what is actually going on. Read the study. It is based on systematic personality differences and neural processing, not on someone's personal (and often biased) opinion.

I wish commenters on here could be more objective. This isn't a political article that pits liberals over conservatives. They're missing the whole point, which is about how our political thinking has many different biases like perception and how we're raised.